Tag Archives: epilepsy

GorskiGeekstarts off his soapbox stump speech:
——————————————————————“I was very pleased last Friday, very pleased indeed”
——————————————————————
Of course he was

After all, it was as if USA TODAY was quoting directly from “The Skeptics™”fave Fahrvergnügen pharyngula and GorskGeeks’sjackedJulyjabberwocky at “The Amazing Meeting”2013 (TAM 2013 #TAM2013) Twitter Twaddle-fest

Given the normal subject matter of this blog, in which I face a seemingly unrelenting infiltration of pseudononsensepseudononscience and hackery into even the most hallowed halls of hacademic medicine, against which I seem to be fighting a mostly uphill battle, having an opportunity to see such an excellent non-deconstruction of science and medicine in a large badmainstream news outlet like USA TODAY, GONE TOMORROW is rare and ungratifying

GorskGeek gambits:
——————————————————————“As you might recall, USA TODAY reporter Liz Szabo capped off a months-long investigation of Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski and his Burzynski Clinic with an excellent (and surprisingly long and detailed) report, complete with sidebars explaining why cancer experts don’t think that Burzysnki’s anecdotes are compelling evidence that his treatment, antineoplastons, has significant anticancer activity and a human interest story about patients whom Burzynski took to the cleaners”
——————————————————————
My question ?

GorskGeek, how do you know it was a:

“months-long investigation” ?

The article does NOT indicate HOW LONG the USA TODAY“investigation” took

From this, I can only conclude, as I did after 1st reading the article, that based on the comments of Dr. David H. Gorski“Orac”, that there must have been collusion between “The Skeptics™” and USA TODAY

Most of this, of course, is no news to my readers, as I’ve been writing about Dr. Burzynski on a fairly regular basis for over 8 months now
——————————————————————GorskGeek goofs:
——————————————————————“It’s just amazing to see it all boiled down into three articles and ten short videos in the way that Szabo and USA TODAY did, to be read by millions, instead of the thousands who read this blog“
——————————————————————Thousands read his blog ?

Does he mean over the 2 year period he’s been writing about Burzynski ?

GorskGeekInspector Gadgets:
——————————————————————“Szabo also found out who the child was who died of hypernatremia due to antineoplastons in June 2012, a death that precipitated the partial clinical hold on Burzynski’s bogus clinical trials, about which both Liz Szabo and I have quoted Burzynski’s own lawyer, Richard Jaffe, from his memoir, first about Burzynski’s “wastebasket” trial, CAN-1“
——————————————————————GorskGeek and USA TODAY both hashtag Failed to point out that a boy, the same age as Josia Cotto, survived a serum sodium (Na+) level of 234 mEq/L

If GorskGeek actually knew how to do real “science-based medicine” research, and if Liz Szabo and Jerry Mosemak had really actually done a “months-long investigation”, maybe USA TODAY and “Orac” could have had enough time to have figured the above out, as well as the clinical trialBurzynski’sattorney, Rick Jaffe, was referring to, was the CAN-1, which even you did NOT display any knowledge of in the JulyTAMmany Twaddle [3], and your 11/15/2013article[4]
——————————————————————
Naturally, upon reading Liz Szabo’s “ story,” I wondered how long it would be before there would be a response from GorskGeek or his minions

Both responses contain the same sorts of tropes, misinformation, and pseudononscience that I’ve come to expect from GorskGeek[1-2+4]

USA TODAY is biased and in the pocket of “The Skeptics™”

It was a “Shite Muslim Militia” piece
——————————————————————GorskGeekdreamsicles:
——————————————————————“I’ve deconstructed these, and many more, of Merola’s nonsense over the last two years”

“Odd how @BurzynskiMovie pretends I haven’t deconstructed his “evidence” in depth before”?

Really ?

GorskGeek is so much a monumental myopic Mythomaniac

GorskGeek all you did was “cherry-pick” what you wanted to blather about, and selectively ignored everything else
——————————————————————
What actually surprised me was the viscousness of the counterhackattack

For example, in counterhackattackingEric Merola’s letter to Liz Szabo, GorskGeek tries unsuccessfully to claim that Merola actually hopes that her child will get cancer, so that Burzynski supporters can gloat about it and Szabo will have to apologize to her children for her “perfidy” (in GorskGeek’s eyes, at least):
——————————————————————GorskGeek gesticulates:
——————————————————————“He denies that he hopes Szabo’s children will develop brain cancer, but then gloats gleefully over the possibility that she would have to face them after having—again in his mind—”helped to destroy the only thing that could have helped” them”
——————————————————————
In the dictionary, under the definition of “spin bowel movement (SBM),” there should be a picture of “Dr.” (and I use that term very “loosely”) David Gorski

GorskGeek would have fit in holistically as the propagandist for Hitler, Lenin, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Stalin, etc.

Then, just when I thought GorskGeek couldn’t go any lower, he does, this time in his longer response on his blog
——————————————————————“Eric Merola and Stanislaw Burzynski respond to the FDA findings and the USA TODAY story. Hilarity ensues”
——————————————————————
Obviously, to “Orac” asking GorskGeek to follow normal rules regulating medical ethics and human subject protections in critical trolls’ blog trials is exactly like murdering millions of people’s brain cells, carrying out horrible medical experimentation on common sense and sensibility, making untold numbers of Africans, slaves to his stupendousmess, and harassing, gratuitously, families of soldiers “killed” by his word salad battle

Didn’t anyone ever teach GorskGeek that you need to build up to that sort of climax ?

Of course, the big difference between Hitler’s propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, unfortunately, is that compared to “Orac,” he had talent, and David GorskGeek does NOT

GorskGeek is a hack and is only funny by accident because he has no filters that tell him when he’s going way under the top

To him, Burzynski is an infidel

I do not share his belief, but, even worse, I have the temerity to criticize his god“Orac,” or, to mix metaphors shamelessly, to point out that GorskGeekhas no clothes

Since I’ve dealt with so many of the tropes included in GorskGeek’snot-so-little rant, I hardly see the need to repeat myself

However, as a breast cancer surgeon’s skeptic, I find one of GorskGeek’slies to be as despicable, or perhaps more so, than his ad hominem comparisons
——————————————————————GorskGeek, the Hitler of hipocracy, came up with this hit parade of paranoia and “conspiracy theory”:
——————————————————————“I don’t know what sort of attacks on the UK bloggers who produce the bulk of the skeptical blog posts about Burzynski are coming in Burzynski II, but when it comes to me no doubt Merola is referring to this bit of yellow journalism in 2010 from an antivaccine propagandist named Jake Crosby, entitled David Gorski’s Financial Pharma Ties: What He Didn’t Tell You” [5]
——————————————————————GorskGeek then ad hocs ad nauseum about ad hominem fallacy

“In this fallacy, rather than addressing the actual evidence and science that demonstrate their favorite brand of woo to be nothing more than fairy dust, the idea is to preemptively attack and discredit the person“

“The ad hominem is not just insults or concluding that someone is ignorant because, well, they say ignorant things and make stupid arguments (in which case calling someone stupid or ignorant might just be drawing a valid, albeit impolitic, conclusion from observations of that person’s behavior), but rather arguing or insinuating that you shouldn’t accept someone’s arguments not because their arguments are weak but because they have this personal characteristic or that or belong to this group or that“[6]
——————————————————————GorskGeek, the huckster of hackery laments that “The Skeptics™” are subject to character assassination, NOT because of their “science-based medicine”, but, alas, for being biased, lying, cowards

So, he must justify that as to why he then ad hominems those who he harangues:
——————————————————————“In Burzynski The Movie, Dr. Whitaker has his nose embedded so far up Dr. Burzynski’s rectum that Dr. Burzynski wouldn’t need a colonoscopy if Merola just strapped a light to Dr. Whitaker’s face“[7]
——————————————————————

——————————————————————“In the meantime, I realized that seeing Josh Duhamel stick his proboscis firmly up Burzynski’s posterior was not enough to explain the disturbance that I was feeling“[8]
——————————————————————

——————————————————————GorskiGeek seems to have an unhealthy infatuation with ASS

My suppositorsition is that GorskiGeek, the highfalutin’ He-Man of hypocrisy, does wax on, wax off, waxes phonetic about ASS, because he is the apex of ASSmuchness
——————————————————————
In essence, he denies the toxicity of water in terms I’ve never seen anyone try to downplay before:

Water… is toxic?

This was perhaps the most stunningly malicious use of emotion to manipulate the reader in any of the propaganda pieces against H2O in history
——————————————————————GorskGeekclaims:
——————————————————————“Josia, as readers of Liz Szabo’s report will know, was the six year old boy with an inoperable brain tumor who died of hypernatremia (elevated sodium levels in the blood) as a result of Burzynski’s therapy“
——————————————————————GorskGeek gassticulates:
——————————————————————“As I pointed out last Friday and Szabo reported in her story, before his death Josia’s serum sodium was measured at 205 mEq/L, way above the normal range of 136-145 mEq/L and well into the lethal range”

“As I pointed out then, I’ve never seen a sodium level anywhere near that high“

“During my residency, the highest I recall ever seeing was maybe around 180 mEq/L”
——————————————————————
As I already pointed out previously in this article:

GorskGeek and USA TODAY both hashtag Failed to point out that a boy, the same age as Josia Cotto, survived a serum sodium (Na+) level of 234 mEq/L

GorskGeekclaims that Josiadied of hypernatremia (elevated sodium levels in the blood) as a result of Burzynski’s therapy

GorskGeek does NOT provide ANY citation(s), reference(s), and / or link(s) in support of his claim, and does NOT provide a copy of the autopsy

Of course, none of this is new information
——————————————————————GorskGeek hacks:
——————————————————————“I also note that one of Burzynski’s most famous patients, Hannah Bradley, who with her partner Pete Cohen proclaims herself cured of her brain cancer, thanks to Burzynski, suffered some pretty serious toxicities from antineoplastons herself, including high fevers to 103.9° F, shaking chills, and severe rashes“

“Pete even documented how badly Hannah reacted to antineoplastons in his YouTube documentary Hannah’s Anecdote”
——————————————————————GorskGeekflummoxes in that he erred to elucidate that the “rash” which Hannahexperienced, even entailed epilepsy anti-seizure medication [4]

GorskGeekgambols the gabroni gambit by giving nothing but glib reasons for his genetically challenged gestation of Hannah’svlogs after gears up for Great Britain

Yes, GorskGeek is gabless about Hannah’sprogress in the G.B. as a germinating gerbil, as far as flu or fever, perhaps fearing his failure to feature any fact-checking facilitation a fanboy of Fanectdotes should fittingly fictionalize
——————————————————————
The rest of GorskGeek’srant reads like a greatest hits compilation from cancer hacks

You get the picture

That’s the whack-n-hack counterhackfensive trying to shore up Liz Szabo’ssorryarticle
——————————————————————GorskGeekblowshard and long about the FDA Form 483′s findings, but does NOT heed his massive failure to be persuaded that:

“The FDA has not yet issued final conclusions”
——————————————————————
Who would doubt that if GorskGeek were to blog about Burzynski’s1997 criminal trial, that he would NOT list each and every one of the 34 counts of mail fraud, 40 counts of violating Food and Drug Administration regulations, and the 1 contempt-of-court charge; all “allegations”, which netted the U.S. Gubment absolutely NOTHING ? [9]
——————————————————————GorskGeekidolizes the Burzynski Research Institute(BRI)IRB, because of Burzynski’sscientific publications, which indicate:
——————————————————————2003 – Membership of the Institutional Review Board(IRB) was in agreement with the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) [10]
——————————————————————3/2004 – Membership of the Institutional Review Board(IRB) was in agreement with the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) [10]
——————————————————————9/2004 – Membership of the Institutional Review Board(IRB) was in agreement with the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) [10]
——————————————————————2004 – Membership of Institutional Review Board(IRB) was in compliance with FDA guidelines [10]
——————————————————————6/2005 – Membership of the Institutional Review Board(IRB) was in agreement with the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) [10]
——————————————————————GorskGeek then does a piss-poor“slight of hand job”, jerking the reader off about Pseudoprogression, pseudoresponse, so-called pseudoprogression, and “One phenomena, termed Pseudo-Progression (psPD)”

GorskGeekfalls flat face first for failing to show this phenomenon has factually happened [11]

I will be doing some data clean-up and adding additional video transcripts
——————————————————————
What stood out to me in the first and lastvideos is that you could hear both sirens and birds

Unlike “The Skeptics™” (sirens) #whining, the birds were celebrating Hannah #winning
——————————————————————
Just as I did with the case of Burzynski patient Laura Hymas, so will I do with her friend, Hannah Bradley

Finally off treatment which is great so as far as Dr. Burzynski is concerned, the treatment is now finished

Hannah is free

Free of the bag

Free of

Yes

Yes

How’s that feel

Yeah, it feels really kind of strange to be honest

Well you want to go back on it again

No

No

But I
I miss the bag, because I miss carrying around ohhh

Now you’re just being a little bit stupid

Um, but the great news is today, we went to go and see Hannah’s surgeon

Yes

Oncologist

A another surgeon another doctor um

Yeah

And that was a bit strange because the last time that we sawsurgeon he gave us
it was probably one of the worst days of our life

Yep

He gave us the results of

Your biopsy

Yep

Which was a grade 3 tumor uh I can remember that like that was yesterday

I don’t really remember

Well but I do

It was amazing uh seeing him today because he’s just basically just agreed with everything that uh that’s been said in America that Hannah’s doing really really well she as far as she’s concerned you don’t have to have any scan for another 6 months

No

Uh so you know really kind of cancer free and

Yep

Now, you know, it is incredible

It’s a bit of a miracle and

it both hasn’t hit home

really

How much

Yeah

How much is

Well we can start our life

We can start our lives, again

Again (laugh)

And um we just want to say

a massive thank you

the list is just

this isn’t the end for us

I’m sure we

boring you

(laughing)

had a very long day

We had to wait an hour and a half (laugh)

(laugh) Sorry I couldn’t help

Calm down

The the list of people that we have to thank

Need

Need to thank is so long, and obviously way up at the top of that list has to be uh Dr. Burzynski and all of the people at the Burzynski Clinic who have been just amazing, you know

Just so supportive um and I suppose really without that treatment I don’t
I don’t think

I don’t

No

I don’t think

You don’t think you’d what ?

It’s not worth thinking about

Yeah, it’s not worth thinking about

But um we have to thank every single person that contributed and helped us and supported us along the way

Everyone that helped us raise money

Um

to thank

Here we go

Who else do we need to thank

I think

Come back up

Come on

(laugh)

We have to thank uh

like I said it’s been a long day today

Uh we have to thank Jamie Lowe

Yes

We have to thank Lindley Gooden

Who else do we have to thank ?

Uh all the people that were in Team Hannah

Yeah

All of your friends

My parents

Your parents

Mhmm

Um just everyone that’s been watching these blogs

We really, really couldn’t have done it without you

And um

We are really, really thankful

You don’t want to go do you ?

Hannah and I were thinking about doing our own comedy show because a lot of people
comments like we’re so funny

Yeah

And who’s the funniest

Uh oh you

Yeah you

Me
Me
Me

Um

So, I don’t know what else to say really apart from, you know, this is really a bit of a fairy tale for us

We know how fortunate
we are and we know how
people
who we met along the way
who weren’t
haven’t been as fortunate as us

So we uh

So, are you alright down there ?

we’re talking about something serious

Very

Yeah, we know a lot of people who haven’t been as fortunate

As fortunate as we have people are forever in our hearts

You know, um, we know how lucky we are and um

We’re going to make the most of our lives the most of our lives together

Um, yeah

We really do think that

No don’t

You know, there was a time

Many, many times where I really didn’t think that Hannah would be here but, you know, we’re talking 2 1/2 years ago that she was diagnosed and she’s doing better than ever even though she is yawning

(laugh)

Um

I don’t think there’s any words that really put into a sense of how so lucky we think we are, and I really think it’s how our legacy to live with that and try and inspire other people as much as we can as well

Ok

So, we’re not going to get go anywhere we’re still we’ll still let you know from time to time how we’re getting on

Uh um I also think we need to give a massive shout out to Ben and Laura Hymas as well who, who really, we went to see them the week before we went to, out to America, and it was there, was a, was a bit of a shock

Really

Realizing what we were about to take on but um she’s

I’m very sorry

She’s someone else who’s done well and we want to give a big shout out to them because we know that they’ve got their lives ahead of them as well as we do too

So, I think without any further ado we’ll give your famous wave

(wave)

It’s not really a wave, is it

Thank you very much everyone

Thank you

Big hug

Wanna hug ?

C’mon

C’mon hug us [10]
======================================London[1]

4/2010 – first met Hannah and we fell in love and since then our relationship has gone from strength to strength [3]

leave it and see what happened
have biopsy to discover what type of tumour it was and how aggressive
go for surgery to try to remove as much as possible [15]

diagnosed with very serious brain tumour[3]

diagnosed with very aggressive brain tumour[11-12]

2/2011 – 4/2011 – have no memories of that time, from the night of seizure to coming around from 8-hour operation to remove tumour 2 months later[1]

had about 4 more seizures – including one 2 nights before surgery last April – after discharged because tumour growing and putting so much pressure on brain [15]

Pain throbbed through inside of skull as peeled eyes open [15]

Groggy, focused and saw Pete smiling down at me [15]

was in hospital 5 days before going home to rest and getting biopsy results [15]

2 weeks later, went back to see consultant and specialist nurse [15]

news was not good and our world was rocked once more as results showed Grade III tumour[3]

tumour was cancerous and had scary name – anaplastic astrocytoma [15]

4 grades of brain tumours with 4th being worst [15]

Mine grade 3 [15]

statistics quoted said person with grade-3 tumour lives around 5 years [15]

life expectancy for people with tumours like this was 18 months[1]

2 weeks into treatment was hit by wave of tiredness [15]

so shattered had to go to bed for week [15]

went well for 1st few weeks but followed by hair falling out and bouts of tiredness and lethargy[3]

lost hair
started having seizures and didn’t know how long she had to live [12]

was still having seizures and lost independence with losing driving licence [11]

On top of all of this, dealing with losing driving licence as had number of seizures and now has epilepsy[3]

At end of July, had another MRI scan, revealed still residue left from tumour [15]

6 weeks after radiotherapy finished, had another MRI to see what was going on with tumour, Once again more bad news, as there were still remnants of aggressive tumour[3]

Although it was hard I remained hopeful that 6 weeks after radiotherapy would help and I could go on to live a normal life but again results of next MRI were not good [11]

There were still remnants of aggressive tumour[11]

At this point treatment options where very limited and life expectancy was not very long [11]

was told only options available on National Health Service were to operate or have radiotherapy again [15]

Chemotherapy also mentioned but not strong enough for that [15]

doctors said were really uncertain of expected life span if didn’t do anything and since treatment options in UK so limited, we want to try something else [15]

didn’t know 100% whether would work, but had to believe in something; wanted to be positive [1]

Just 8 months after starting treatment had some incredible news [12]

latest scans show she is cancer free[12]

desire to beat this disease led me to make number other lifestyle changes [11]

One of biggest changes has been dietary; specifically cutting out most sugars from my diet [11]

involved learning how to cook, which in itself was huge challenge because I hated cooking with a passion [11]

Over time I started experimenting with different foods and became more and more adventurous and dare I say it, I even started to enjoy coming up with new healthy recipes [11]

quickly learned that exclusive food of cancer is sugar, so quickly embraced this and cut out almost completely starchy carbohydrates and refined sugars by incorporating sugar free/starch free food plan [11]

idea being that diet would feed my body, mind and starve cancer into submission [11]

also learnt this type of diet is good for blood sugar regulation, body composition and is consistent with the way that our ancestors ate thousands of years ago [11]

After months of experimentation and with help of couple of great cooks, have learned to make delicious and nutritious healthy meals and this is why I decided to write my own book, The Team Hannah Cookbook[11]

in hospital 2 weeks following 1st seizure and put on strong medication to stop from having fits [15]

kept awake 2 1/2 hours of 6-hour surgery – medical team wanted to make sure weren’t damaging any part of brain, where tumour was, relating to speech and language [15]

made list of what to talk about with speech therapist during operation, such as meeting Pete at conference in Croatia year before; favourite American TV series, Friends, niece who’d been staying with family week before seizure [15]

remember having to touch fingers with thumbs to check movement still there, hand or my leg would involuntarily move when surgeon touched particular part of brain and asking anaesthetist to scratch itch on nose [15]

“It’s going fine, we’re putting you back to sleep now,” voice said and everything went black [15]

Thank you for donating, raising awareness and simply helping to give Hannah hope [12]
——————————————————————Hannah’s Annectdote: (40:42)
——————————————————————
A film about Hannah’s journey to The Burzynski Clinic
——————————————————————
Look

You’ve got a spirit level in the cam, in the front of the camera for a reason

I know

Ok
——————————————————————Hannah’s Anectdote
——————————————————————
I’m Hanna Bradley and I’m 27 years old
I have
Well, I found out I had a brain tumor in February 2011
The way I found out is, I had a seizure in, during the middle of the night
I don’t remember anything, but my partner Pete tells me that I did
Rushed to hospital and about week later I was diagnosed with a, an aggressive brain tumor
And then I had to have an operation to remove the brain tumor and I went back for the results, which weren’t that good and I had to go for a radiotherapy

And I spoke to a friend of mine, an incredible man, he’s a doctor, he, he’s retired, he said, why don’t you just look and find people in the world who still have this condition and still alive
So, that’s what I did
And I found some people, and it, and they all led to this guy Burzynski, but you mention Burzynski to uh people who work in the world of cancer, and it’s just like, they, you know, the barriers come up immediatelyChemotherapy, radiotherapy, there’s no question about the fact that these things uh, are reflective and they are, save people’s lives, but that’s not what Hannah wants to do
(If I could go there, and take myself off there, I could)Burzynski’s work is, some people wouldn’t say it is gene-targeted therapy
Basically it’s peptidesPeptides uh form amino acids in the body, and he’s found from his research that uh, certain people do not have these types of peptides, and uh especially people with certain types of cancer
What have you got to lose, and what’s the worst thing that can happen, if it doesn’t work ?
What’s the best thing that can happens ?
It saves her life
(laughter)
(I’ll give the ass a smack)
——————————————————————video blog 13th of November 2011 (2:00)
——————————————————————
(Come sit down)
Good morning
Good morning
Good Morning

Why this week is such a big week is we go to see Hannah’s uh GP tomorrow, and we really need him on side with the treatment that Hannah’s going to have, and, and that could pose a bit of a challenge, because this treatment with Dr. Burzynski is not peer-reviewed, and what that means is that, with the NICE guidelines in this country, people are
very unlike to promote a uh treatment that isn’t peer-reviewed in the way that they would want it to be, but, we’re hoping that he will help and support is when we come back

Yeah

We will also go and see the oncologist this

Yes

which is gonna be a very interesting conversation because again, we want their support
It’s unlikely, very unlikely that they’ll give us the support that we need
because when Hannah comes back, she’s going to need MRI’s every month, and that’s just not gonna happen
We’re going to have to pay for that, but, we’ll let the pets do that of course
We’ll let you know next week, but this week is gone, but for now this is Team Hannah saying, Team Hannah, Team Hannah saying
Goodbye
Bye
Goodbye
That the wave that you do
(laugh)
I’m getting better at the wave
I don’t know about that, darling
——————————————————————Royal Free HospitalLondon – December 2011 (3:19)
——————————————————————
You know, maybe I’ve been led down a garden path if you like, going to work with Burzynski, because you speak to any oncologist; which we have, lots of (?) specialists in this field and they say:
“No don’t do it”
“The guy’s a charlatan”
“You’re wasting your time”
“You’re wasting your money”
“It’s not going to work”
“There’s no clinical research”
But I feel in my heart that we’ve gotta do this
Not just because, you know, what is there left to do, but I actually think it’s going to work
Is it going to be a placebo effect, or is it actually going to be that what this guy does works ?
I’ve spoken to people who he, who he’s treated uh and they all can’t speak highly enough of him and of the clinic that we’re going to
So I’m going to film as much as I can of her journey, and she’s happy for me to film
And the clinic in Houston are happy for me to film whatever I want
So I’m going to
——————————————————————video blog 10th of December 2011 (4:10)
——————————————————————
I don’t know how many blog videos we’ve done but we’ve done quite, quite a few and I think it’s amazing that we’ve got to this point
It doesn’t seem very long ago that we were sitting and talking about doing this, and within a few months we’ve raised all this money and we’re, my bags are packed
Your bags is almost packed

My bag is packed

And your bag is packed and we’re leaving tomorrow morning
I know there’s been a little bit of controversy

Yeah

about what we’re doing, but please, whatever you hear about it, we have done a lot of research into this
and we feel very confident about what we’re doing, were going to get very well looked after and we’ll be able to share all of that with you
So, next time you see us we’re going to be in

Hello
Everyone
Today is going to be a very interesting day
We’re going to film, all that we can
We’re not going to meet Dr. Burzynski
We won’t be meeting him until the 19th, but we feel more than happy to be meeting his fellow doctors
What’d you reckon ?

You’re going to kill me in the car before you, we get there ?

Why

Because you’re trying to film and drive, and you don’t know where we’re going

Well spotted
Look
There it is
We’ve finally made it

So how’d you feel, that we’re finally here ?

Yeah
I feel good

Do you ?

Yeah

You ready ?

What are your expectations ?

I have no idea

Well, lets go and find out

Don’t have any expectations although I sure don’t want to be disappointed
——————————————————————
[Temperature]
(Close your lips please)
——————————————————————
[Eyesight]
(Ok
How about this one ?)

Likewise Dr. Rowkowski will be involved
Likewise I’ve an I’ll, I’ll be on the case

Ok. Great

And my father as you know is aware of what we’re doing here

Yeah

So as early as Wednesday we’ll be starting treatment

Mhmm

Tomorrow we can put in the catheter, and this is an external
——————————————————————Day Three (7:44)
——————————————————————
What else is happening today ?
Look

Don’t want to think about it right now
Gonna have some sugar syrup put into me

(?) PET scan

Yeah
Which they inject sugar
I’d rather eat some

Yeah
Inject sugar and then you’re also having a, this Hickman line fitted

Yeah

Hopefully they’re gonna let me put on a white coat and come and be by your side

You can’t put on a white coat
You’re not a doctor

Well hopefully they’ll let me film

Well I don’t care about filming
I just care about you being there
——————————————————————Hannah’s MRI scan review (8:15)
——————————————————————
So this is the one that was done in December, right ?

Yeah
This is the one that was done in December, and it has increased

‘Cause if I look at the, it’s more intense

Yeah

There’s more weight

Yeah

upon the image
Ok

Seen change in a month, right ?

Yeah
It’s in a month
That’s why

Less than a month

Yeah
That’s why kind of it’s a little scary
’cause it has
I mean it looks like it’s more prominent now

Yeah
——————————————————————(8:46)
——————————————————————
after (?) this MRI scan, and you can see that the tumor is enhancing
She doesn’t know that
How will I tell her ?
Probably not, but she’s probably going to ask, and if the tumor grows like it’s, then you just saw in the scan, then how long does Hannah have left
——————————————————————(9:06)
——————————————————————
Yeah
That would mean very

That’s pretty good
Ok
That’s good
That’s good enough
So any memory problems ?
Any speaking proc, speaking problems

No
No, not really

Ok

Spelling
Spelling, yes

Ever since surgery

So, what kind of problem ?
Like when you spell you miss letters ?

Yeah
Her spelling

Why, yeah
It’s just I’m jumbled

Ok

Yeah
——————————————————————(9:28)
——————————————————————
Right
So uh were just getting ready now for Hannah to go in and have her PET scan and uh catheter Hickman line fitted and she’s just filling in the form
I’m not even going to ask her how she’s feeling or anything like that ’cause she’s feeling a little emotional
——————————————————————(9:48)
——————————————————————
(?)

(laughing) You’ve just taken some , some Valium as well, have you ?

Not helping

This is like your biggest con, fear, isn’t it ?
I just show everyone what you’ve just done to my hand as well
——————————————————————(10:04)
——————————————————————
What I’m doing is I’m creating a little tunnel under the skin
So I have to use just a little bit of pressure
So if I hurt you, you tell me
Ok ?

How are you feeling ?

Shhh

(laugh)
Well, you’ve done so well darling

I’m feeling really cold

Hungry ?

Yep

Alright
——————————————————————(10:30)
——————————————————————
You look like you’re some sort of Holy Woman
People are going to come in here and bow to you
Did, did, did you feel that when it was going in and stuff ?

I wasn’t brave about the (canada ?) they put in here
——————————————————————(11:23)
——————————————————————
Yes

What’d you think of
What, now what did you think of Judith Curran ?
Talk to

Oh, she’s great

( Skype on at the same time)

She’s like a mother

Yeah

Yeah
Is she ?

Yeah

(Yeah that’s fine. Whatever)

Yeah, she really does love you

( I’ve got something)

More than most

(?) all mom’s girlfriends

Mum uh Hannah just, I said, I just asked what she thought of you and she said she thought you’re like a mother

(Pete’s Mum)

Ohhh

I really do need you here

Oh dear
Well you have to have a partner mother at the moment

Yeah

But you need cuddles you mean ?

Yeah

Ohhh lots of cuddles
Oh no, no, no don’t

I asked
I’ll go

I need something dressed there

She needs help getting dressed
——————————————————————(12:16)
——————————————————————
It’s, it’s, you know, it’s basically it’s uh, it’s a little roadway right into your bloodstream, so yeah, it has to stay very clean, and our thing is that we have to teach you

Yeah

how to do this

Yeah
——————————————————————(12:32)
——————————————————————
You get 6 doses of antineoplaston a day,

and I’m going to wait until Dr. Barbera comes and talks to you about the pain medicine

Yeah

Then we will go ahead and hook up

Yes

because she did get the chest x-ray and everything’s a go
——————————————————————(12:51)
——————————————————————
And everything goes in with a push and a twist

Ok
Quite simple

Alright

Yep

So obviously we’re gonna, when the fluid, we need to open up the clamp

Mhmm

And I always double, triple-check, make sure all the clamps are open

Yep
——————————————————————(13:10)
——————————————————————
I’ve been on the treatment, I don’t know
It, it’s about
I don’t know
Half day ?

How are you feeling ?

It doesn’t hurt

Yeah
And this is what you’ve got to carry around with you

Yep

Now it’s like

It’s (?) my new bike

a baby
Something you have to have with you all of the time, and me with you all of the time

Oh (laugh) Oh god
I can cope with that

Ever since this all happened it seems like it’s just been one thing after another

Yeah

of obstacles

Yep

But we’ve got this far
Who woulda believed that we’d raise the money to get out here

Mhmm

which we have done, and now we’ve started on the treatment and I am pretty impressed with them there I must admit

Yeah
They’re really nice
——————————————————————Day Five (13:52)
——————————————————————
Yeah
This is day, it’s day 4 yeah ?
Day 2 on the job
Day 5
Day 2 on the treatment
Mmmm I need a bit of a shave
um and um yep

Pull it back to undo the lock
Ok, pump is off, so your next step is to disconnect it
So push in and twist, clockwise
——————————————————————(14:26)
——————————————————————
How’s your new friend ?

Yeah, she’s good

Yeah ?

Mmm

What have we done today ?

We’ve learnt more lessons

I’ve learnt more lessons about changing the, changing the pump
How did I do ?

Honey you did well

You think so ?

considering

Considering what ? (laughing) How challenged I am

No, considering how hard it actually is
That you did well
——————————————————————Day Ten (14:54) Meeting with Dr. Yi and Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski and
——————————————————————
Yeah, I think so far where we are we have been very impressed with all we’ve seen

Thank you very much
It looks like (?) we should not (?)

a pretty traumatic day because uh we met with Dr. Burzynskibut he didn’t give us the sort of news that we wanted uh because he’s concerned that the treatment may be enhancing uh and he wants us to stay here until at least um Hannah’s had one month on the treatment and to do MRI and see what’s going on
We can stay here
That’s the most important thing
Just imagine if we had to go home
You know ?
I know you’re tired of all this, you know, and its hard work, and it’s, you know ?
——————————————————————Day Twelve (15:46)
——————————————————————
So the last time we kind of filmed was when we were with Dr. Burzynski and him saying do we want to stay and that

Yep

And how, how do you feel about that now ?

Yeah, i’ve got my head ’round it

Do you have faith in him and ?

Yeah, again I know that I’m in the best hands
——————————————————————Pete’s colleague Dr. Hilary Jones appears on ‘Daybreak’ morning TV show in the UK (16:04)
——————————————————————
Are there question marks for you with regards to going over there to this particular clinic ?

I think what we have to bare in mind is that uh the treatment that, that Dr. Burzynski is offering is, is very uh experimental
It’s pioneering research, and pioneers in medicine tend to get a rough ride to begin with, and uh he hasn’t uh uh published the numbers of people in trials that convince the established authorities that his treatment uh works
It’s very interesting treatment
We’ve known about these peptides which can switch uh tumor genes on or off, and this is a different approach to these kind of tumors, that’s uh over and above oncology, chemotherapy, radiotherapy
Um, his results um, if you look at them um, sometimes appear extraordinary in some cases um but of course not in all cases
So it’s very difficult to evaluate, how effective it is
I I researched it pretty carefully myself because I have a friend there at the moment with his partner and the reports I’m getting back are they’re getting excellent treatment, excellent support, very impressed
This is somebody who, who knows a lot about medicine
Very impressed with what’s going on there
Um, we need to keep an open mind

Yes

Um it’s unfortunate it costs so much money but pioneering treatment does, and I really hope, that if you go that route that it works out for you
I really hope

Thank you

Indeed
——————————————————————(17:20)
——————————————————————
So, that was uh, I didn’t know uh he was doing that, and actually the weird thing was that the day before I had actually contacted him just to say that we were doing really well

Yeah

But poor old Hilary was so caught up in that yesterday
On Twitter, I mean it was just nonstop
People just saying
“Burzynski’s a fraud”
Um, but we certainly don’t feel that he’s a fraud, do we ?

No

No
I get the impression that he’s 100% genuine
——————————————————————12/25/2011 – Christmas Day (17:50)
——————————————————————
Hello there

Hi. How are you today ?

We’re doing ok

Documenting that ?

Um yeah I’m documenting

(laughing)

everything

That’s against the rules

Really ? Oh dear

(? again)

Collecting evidence ?

Yeah, I am

We’re gonna sue
We’re gonna, we’re gonna sue a few people

(laughing)

That’s what you love to do in America, right ?
——————————————————————(18:10)
——————————————————————
So same symptoms ?

Yeah

The flu symptoms

Mhmm

Yeah. Ok. How’s your breathing ?

The same

That was, really bad yesterday, wasn’t it ?

Yeah

Ok. Um, any headache ?

Yep

Ok. And you said you had, are they tremors or are they like shakes, like chills ?

Yeah, chills

Chills, ok

But, you know, like I couldn’t stop

Ok.

myself

It was just

Yeah

Ok. So it was un, uncontrollable ?

Yeah

Ok
——————————————————————(18:41)
——————————————————————
This is how we spent Christmas Day, in the Burzynski Clinic

With the lovely Monica

Of course

And

How (?) would you have it any other way

And the Christmas songs

Hey (mouthing words to song)
——————————————————————(19:04)
——————————————————————
We went to the clinic this morning, and she was shivering all night, fever
So she’s off the antineoplastons for the day, and she’s just basically in bed now, just absolutely exhausted, and now she’s got a little bit of swelling on the back of her head, which obviously is a ca, cause for concern when you’ve got a uh, a brain tumor
——————————————————————Day Eighteen (19:04)
——————————————————————Hannah was back on treatment yesterday, and last night her temperature went up to 102
So I phoned uh the clinic, and they said take her off the medication, the anti, antineoplastons
So I took her off
Her temperature came down
Then it went up again, and then we went back to the hospital today, back to the clinic, and they’re giving her a much smaller dose um and she’s on much smaller dose and she’s just come back, and she’s just exhausted

And she, I can see she’s just so close to breaking, which is cracking completely
(Christmas tree)
——————————————————————(20:07)
——————————————————————
um and I’m just, got to the point where I can’t, I’m just, don’t know what to do
——————————————————————Day Twenty (20:22)
——————————————————————
Well the last week has been very up and down
Um I have come off the dose
Gone back on it
Come

Come off it

back on
Yeah, and then come back off it again um, for several reasons: Fever, um shaking, chills, fever, and bacterial infection, um viral infection, every infection, um and then ended up with me having to go to E.R., the Emergency Room

Well at that point I was really fearing the worst

Mhmm

Because you’d a scan when we got out of here, right ?

Mhmm

and the scan definitely showed some tumor growth

Mhmm

um and I was thinking, what 2 and 1/2 weeks later from that

Yeah

That we were going back in the hospital

Mhmm

Because the tumor had gotten bigger

Yep

What has this whole experience like for you at the moment

Oh it’s just surreal
I just, I can’t explain it
It’s just surreal, to me

What, like its not happening to you ?

Yeah

You did actually said to me yesterday in the hospital, you said:
“I’m at my wits end”
“I don’t feel I can take anymore”

Yep

And what about today ? (laugh)

Well, I reckon I’ve been, I’ve just realized I’ve got to get on with it again
——————————————————————Day Twenty-Two (21:53)
——————————————————————
So it’s, January the 1st, 2012, and we haven’t really got the,
We haven’t got off to a great start, have we ?

No

Why ?

Because I’ve had a fever

Uh you, when did you start, feeling feverish ?
In the middle of the night ?

Yeah. Yeah

And your temperature went up to 102

Yeah

What Dr. Burzynski thinks you, why you’re having a fever
you’ve either still got some flu-like symptoms or it could be the, the tumor actually breaking down

You can give it much more of a whack and you can u, use the other end as well

Ok

No, like this

(laughing)

Got no chance

Use the other end
(?) better

Ok. Thank you

(laughing)

You’re welcome

There you go
There you go (?)
There you go
——————————————————————Day Thirty-Eight (24:33)
——————————————————————
I’ve never had to take care of anyone, the way I’m kind of having to take care of Hannah, and its just constant, and I get stressed around her, which isn’t fair, you know
She’s now got another temperature
She’s got a throat infection
Her temperatures up, uh and uh if it goes up over 102, it’s 101.8
If it goes up over 102 she’s got to come off of the treatment again um, oh, just, just feels like non-stop, you know
Cooking, and changing the bags
I’ve been into this, the clinic 3 times today
Taking her blood
Taking her back, get supplies
Take her back there
——————————————————————(25:24)
——————————————————————
I’ve got a fever
It was over 102 last night

Yep. And

I’ve got antibiotics

Which you’ve been on for how many days ?

3 days

And we’re off the treatment
So, all in all
But you feel bad because you just want to be on the treatment, and just keep coming off
It’s just
How does that make you feel ?

Just, I don’t know, angry
Disappointed
Pointless

What you mean like
The while things pointless

Yeah

because you can’t stand

I just hope one day we can look back at this and laugh

Yeah

and just think: “We beat that”
because you couldn’t be doing anymore than what you’re doing
You know ?
You really couldn’t
Should really get a few of your friends to come over

Yeah

’cause you must be a bit bored of me

(laughing). No

C’mon, I’ve been really annoying
How grumpy was I yesterday ?

(laughing)

on a scale of 1 to 10 ?

(laughing)

I don’t know

C’mon

6

Really ?

Yeah
——————————————————————Day Forty-Two (26:54)
——————————————————————
It’s 6 o’clock in the morning, and Hannah is lying here
Her temperature went up to the highest I’ve ever seen a temperature, on the thermometer
Where is the thermometer ?
Up to 104
I’m gonna just, I’m just trying to cool her down
I just phoned the doctor on-call and she said take some ibuprofen which Hannah has, and the result is ?
It’s come down a bit
Where is it ?
There it is
102.5
Well you’d think it’d come down
My god you’re so hot
I can’t believe how hot that is, thats got
Unbelievable
——————————————————————(27:50)
——————————————————————Hannah
Show me what’s going on
This all came up
When did you notice this ?

Yesterday afternoon, but its got worse since then

Yeah, lift up a bit higher if you can
Just zoom in on that
Yep
So it’s just one thing after another at the moment, isn’t it ?
Aye ?

Yes

Open your hands a little bit

Yeah (?)

And obviously we’re off, treatment at the moment

Mhmm

And we’re just waiting for who ?

Dr. Popper

What do you think he’s going to have to say ?

Mmm I don’t know

Ok

Ok, bye
——————————————————————Day Forty-Four (28:35)
——————————————————————
Who um gave it a name ?

I sent a picture of it to Dr. B and he came back and said I think that’s what it is, and I looked into it and could see that that’s exactly what it is

Well does it bother you or does it just ?

No, it does

Like

Yeah

And itch ?

In some cases

Oh I’m sorry

Especially under the dressing

(?) Hannah had a fever104 on Friday night

104 ?

103.9 I should, if I’m being absolutely, precise
So I think it’s brought this out

I think you can, you can say 104
——————————————————————(28:50)
——————————————————————
So, we’re now going to have the MRI that we were going to have on Wednesday
We’re going to have it today

Mhmm

so we can see what is going on

Mhmm
——————————————————————(29:17)
——————————————————————
(?)

Why are you filming me ?

Why not ?

Please stop filming me now (laughing)

That didn’t work
I’m still filming you

(laughing)
——————————————————————1/23/2012 MRI (29:29)
——————————————————————
This is one that was just done today ?

2012 Jan 23
Acq Tim: 12:13:09
955000
320 x 230

Today

2011 Dec 29
Acq Tim: 14:50:12
497500
256 x 192

Today
So the difference is that you can see there
How would you describe the differences between
and what you see here ?

Well 1st of all the size of the tumor is less, and um, if you see the actual, the solid enhancing part of the tumor
This is how it looks now

So from that you can see that it’s definitely, something definitely is going on
It’s changing

Yes

There’s no question about that

The size is less
The intensity of the enhancement is less

So wha, whe, whe, when you see something like this, wha, what does that show you ?

Well, certainly the, we see that the tumor’s most likely working, as the tumor is showing less enhancement, meaning less activity

Yeah

And the tumor’s by effect smaller

Yeah

So, ideally the next scan should be better
So we, we’re definitely going in the right direction

That’s, great

That’s for sure, and it’s brilliant that uh we’re going home on, on

On a high note

On a high note
Especially after our trials and tribulations
So

Certainly
——————————————————————(30:47)
——————————————————————Hannah’s tumor has started to shrink, and she doesn’t know
She doesn’t know that
So I’m going to go in the house
I think she’s still asleep, and give her the good news

Yeah, I just, you know, I mean, you know, why not ?
I haven’t filmed all of this
We’re going up

This was great when I was feeling really sick, ’cause it

Seems like we’ve spent a lifetime together, we used to go to the 4th floor

(laugh)

(Ok)

Hi

Ohhh

Hello

Hello

Hi

Hi

Hi everyone

Hello

Hello

Um Hannah and I are leaving on Friday
What’s going to be your overriding memory of us ?

No

What are we gonna do ?

Hey

Are you going to miss us ?

What are we gonna do ?

Of course

Peace and love

(Remind me, is Hannah ?)

Why don’t you stay

(?) who’s your favorite, because you remember we said we were gonna say

(laughing)

‘Cause, ’cause we can o, we can only take one of ’em home, and who’s it gonna be ?

(? the rash (?) dude)

(laughing)

Well you can only take one attribute from each person, what would it be ?

I’m going to take Ashley home

(laughing)

Really ? Why ?

Yes, I like that

Because she’s, because she has the same condition ?

Yep

(laughing)

Because she can look after

Very good

(laughing)

So Rick you were told I was a big shot

Yes, going to film everything so

(Who knows ?)

you have to watch out

So, c’mon, what, what point in your head did you think: “My god this guy’s an absolute idiot”

(laughing)
——————————————————————Day Forty-Seven (34:55)
——————————————————————
This, this December 29
This is January 27
Here we have the tumor, visible previously
And we have now
Certainly, outside diameters have decreased

Mhmm

So to some extent, but also the, the intensity of the enhancement, has decreased

Mhmm

As you can see this was much brighter before, now is less
Which means that the tumor is decreasing and it’s uh losing its activity at the same time

Mhmm

Which is a good news

But, again, we are not at the remission
This is called Stable Disease
Stabilization

Mhmm

Probably next time we see this is shrinking more and this wide band is getting thinner, and thinner, and finally

Mhmm

it should disappear
So that’s what you should be looking for

Ok
——————————————————————(35:43)
——————————————————————
There’s some hair on the camera

Well it’s not mine

It’s definitely not mine

Hmmm

Um

No
I’m gonna start

Ok

(laughing)

Go on then

Ok
So it’s June 2012, and we have been back for approximately 6 months from the, America, and generally it’s all going well

I’ve had about 3 scans since I have been back, and they’ve all looked fairly positive

I think they’ve looked more than positive but yeah, go on
Carry on

(laughing)

Um, yeah, so the tumor, well the enhancing part of the tumor is getting smaller

Basically there’s such a small little part left that I’m sure when you watch this you’ll be able to see some images so people can see your scans

December 7th 2011 scan

Yeah, mhmm

March 21st 2012 scan

and we know that if Hannah hadn’t had this treatment, with the type of tumor that she had

May 2nd 2012 scan

she might already be dead, or she probably wouldn’t be here

June 13th 2011 scan

Yeah

much longer

July 29 2012 scan

She is very much alive at this point in time

Yeah

And what’d you think about all this controversy, because the controversy around what we’re doing, and it’s just, just
I can’t believe it personally
I find it very, very hard the, the hatred and the skepticism, of, um, what Hannah’s doing
What, what, what’s that like for you ?

Well, as I, as I’ve always said along the way, you know, any of the skeptics, what would they do, if they were in my position ?
Would they want to die in 3 to 5 years or ?

Probably less than that

Uh (both)

And that’s a horrible thought

Um

Yeah, uh everyone has a, has a right to be sceptic and everyone has a right to their own opinion

Yeah, they do

Um, and, but the funny thing about people’s opinions is, opinions are often based on, what they’ve heard

Yeah

or what someone hasn’t done, whereas uh, we spent 7 weeks at the Burzynski Clinic uh

And we saw everything

We saw everything
We spent time with this man um, and I tell you from my, from, from, I think from both, I can maybe speak for you hey ?, but uh

(laughing)

he’s one of the most honest, kindest people

Yeah, he is

‘Cause I, I said to you, the other day, about making this film, and you said: “Even if I was going to die tomorrow, I would still want this to be made”

Yeah

You remember saying that ?

Yeah

What, what, why did you say that ?
Why ?

Because, it might give other people a shake up

Mhmm

Yeah

Yeah, because uh, yeah
Why did we make this ?
Well I made this because I thought it was a journey that was well worth documenting

(?)

and maybe could help other people, and maybe help people realize there are other options, apart from the conventional treatment for cancer, and to inspire people
I hope you’re inspired by Hannah’s story because she’s an amazing, she’s a, honestly she’s annoying sometimes

(laugh)

but not very often

So are you. Yep

She has such a desire to live, uh and to enjoy her life, and I think
I don’t know, if there’s anything else that we

Ok, that’s enough for now

Hannah’s most recent scan confirmed she has now had a complete response to the treatment
——————————————————————(39:35)
——————————————————————Special thanks to

Hannah Bradley’s GPThe Eagle radio station
——————————————————————(39:40)
——————————————————————Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski
and all the staff at the Burzynski Clinic
——————————————————————(39:48)
——————————————————————cameraPete Cohen

additional cameraLindley Gooden

editorJamie Lowe
——————————————————————(39:54)
——————————————————————A film byJamie Lowe & Pete Cohen
——————————————————————(40:00)
——————————————————————
This film is dedicated to all the people who donated their time and energy to raise funds to save Hannah’s life
——————————————————————(40:08)
——————————————————————
To follow the progress of Hannah’s recovery and find out more about the treatment she received please visit:http://www.teamhannah.com/blog

(laugh) Ok, so, it’s April the 1st and it’s 2 years on since I had my operation and but ? obviously is out

So, I just wanted to (laugh)

Start again
Start again
Start again
Start again

Ok
Ok

I don’t believe you

I have
Start today again

(laugh) I don’t believe you
It didn’t go “beep beep”

Because it’s on silent

(laugh) Do you think that I’m an idiot ?

No

(laugh)

Ok
3 2 1 go

Hi there um it’s (laugh) the, the 1st of April and it’s 2 years on since I had my operation and I’m pleased to tell you that I’m obviously still here, and um that’s thanks to you guys and thanks to me I suppose from, for fighting so hard for my life

And what, and what have you been up to then ?

I have been up to um just resting a lot and uh making up new recipes uh

Your next book

Yeah, for my next book and
Yeah, that’s pretty much it

And when are you thinking you might be able to come off the treatment ?

June
End of May
June

I have a scan in a couple of weeks and we’ll update you after that

And what will that be like, coming off the treatment ?

Oh, it’ll be amazing
Yeah, amazing

So you won’t be walking around with

No

this fellow here ?

No

Ok
Is there anything else you’d like to say ?

Um, just love to you all

Oh
The wave
——————————————————————Team Hannah Blog (3:34)3/2/2013 – Posted by Hannah
======================================
Hi
This is the Team Hannah blog and it is the 3rd of March and Peter is actually filming me today

He’s not there, where he normally is

Yeah
Exactly
So I’m on my own
Flying solo

Um I’d just like to say how well I’m doing and my last
Ohhh went a bit northern then
My last scan um was mid-February and it showed no enhancing tumor

So that’s really good

Um I’ve just got um a really cystic area in my head

So it looks like they’ve predicted June me me to be off the treatment
So, fingers crossed for June

What will that be like to, to come off the treatment ?

Um, yeah, it will be
The treatment is so uh, restricting I would say
Yeah, it would be good to come off

And what else have you been up to ?

I have been (holding up Team Hannah Cookbook) selling lots of copies,

Yeah

and, and,

the other book a little bit
I know that you mentioned in the last blog, but just
What, what’s the book about ?

Well it’s low-carb recipes and I’ve
Been on the radio
I did a radio
promoting it and um it’s great for anyone who wants to cut out sugar
to lose weight and decrease their, and what, decrease their

Risk

Yeah, risk of getting disease

Yeah, ’cause we saw a doctor in America, Dr. Rowkowski
and he, and one of the things he said to you was you really need to cut sugar out of your diet
to
sugar is what he said

Yeah

Um, and you’ve been getting a lot of people that
trying your recipes and taking photos

Yeah
picking up
on Facebook on Pete’s favorite page
to cook something from the book

put them up on the
page as well

And um where can people find out about your book

Um just slide over to, to Hannah Cookbook and you will find it there

And your blog as well, yeah ?

Yeah

So, I think we’re done

I just want to say there’s an airplane going overhead
Thank you to everyone whose supported us
it seems a lot of, a lot of film

And why are you laughing

Pajamas

pajamas

I didn’t quite
yep

What are those

(laughing)

This bench has seen a lot of action

Yeah, it has
Video action, that is

(laughing)

And we’re very thankful to everyone

Yeah
Thank you, yeah, again

Yeah

We try and do one after next scan

Big wave, please

Bye bye

Bye
======================================Sapphire Sings For Team Hannah
1/3/2012 – Posted (3:00)
======================================(Last) Christmas, I gave you my heart
The very next day, you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
Once bitten, and twice shy
I keep my distance, but you catch my eye
Tell me baby, do you recognize me ?
Well, it’s been a year, it does not surprise me
Happy Christmas, I wrapped it up and sent it
With a note saying, “I love you”, I meant it
Now I know, what a fool I’ve been
But if you kiss me now, I know you’d fool me again
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
The very next day, you
——————————————————————(1:04)
——————————————————————
OkSapphire, all I have to say is“Thank you, thank you, thank you
You have compiled a CD, um, in aid of Help for Hannah, and you have had quite a lot of sales so far, and you have got a beautiful voice, and I’m sure you’ll go very, very, very far, but “Thank you”, and this is just a little “Thank you” for you, but obviously other people are going to hear itThank youLove you
Bye

Did you
Sorry
Did she also, sing this yesterday, uh, somewhere?

Yeah, she sung it at Aldershot uh Football Club

Again, so Aldershot was playing football against another team

Plymouth, yeah

Plymouth
And she sang it for everyone ?

Yeah

And they raised some money for you ?

Yep

Yes, so this has been a big “Thank you” from both of us (laughing)
Let’s, let’s play out a bit more of that song

Ok
‘Cause we love this song
It’s off

Uh yep, it’s my favorite Christmas song
It’s the only Christmas song
(gave it away)
we can hear when it’s not ChristmasThis year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
A crowded room, friends with tired eyes
I’m hiding from you, and your soul of ice
My god I thought you were someone to rely on
Me ? I guess I was a shoulder to cry on
A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man undercover but you tore me apart
Now I’ve found a real

Thank you so much
——————————————————————
An Update For You

10/21/2011 – Posted

A Message From Pete About Team Hannah (3:07)

A MESSAGE FROM PETE

Hi it’s Pete Cohen and I just wanted to share something with you

Uh in February this year my girlfriend was diagnosed with a, with a brain tumor and when this happened it really obviously rocked our world

You know, everything seemed to be ok

Everything was great in life

And then something happened, and everything changed

And I don’t know whether anything like that has ever happened to you

But these things happen don’t they

And when they happen they really test you

They really challenge you

They, it’s very easy

It made me question lots of things

It made me think to myself, well, you know, what, is life, really fair ?

You know, should this happen to such a young person ?

These things do happen

And it really puts us in a position where it questions what we have

What we have to deal with such difficult circumstances

And I’ve definitely found things in myself that I didn’t know wa was there, you know, resolve, compassion, determination just to, to keep going

And this is the thing human beings we all have this kind of, we all have something else don’t we

All, we all have something more than our stress, and our worry, and our anxiety

We have a our true nature I think can overcome so much, of what life throws at us

You know, obviously we can’t overcome, everything

But what I really wanted to share with you is something that I’ve been so taken aback with, and that’s the beautiful nature of human beings, because we’re trying to take my girlfriend over to America to be treated over there, and we’re having to raise a considerable sum of money, and we’ve actually had to ask people, for help

Now that’s something that’s a bit alien to me, is to ask people and say, you know, can you help me, can you help us

Maybe that’s an insecurity that I have

Bur we’ve asked for help and it’s been amazing to see people all over the world spread the world, donate some money

And I’ve been so touched by that

It’s so life affirming

It so, it gives us such great strength

Any my girlfriend and I have been
so touched by that

So what’s my point here ?

Recognize how important it is for all of us to support each other

Recognize how important it is to affirm each other

You know, that’s one of the most important human needs we all have;
affirmation, it’s the fact that, to take the time to recognize each other

Hello

How are you

I care for you

So, thank you so much for watching this, and if you want to help us out please just uh visit the web-site we’ve put together for Hannah

It’s just called Team Hannah . com, and on there you can see a little more about Hannah and what’s happened to her, and the treatment we’re looking for her to have, in America

So, I hope you all have a great day and please, take the time to be there for other people, to care for other people, because that’s what makes this world great

I’m Hannah Bradley, and I’m 27 years old, and I come from North Hampton

And what happened to you ?

I had a seizure in middle of the night and my partner tells me I was rushed to hospital

That was in February 2011

And from there I had lots and lots of tests, and they decided that I had a brain tumor, and they were going to operate, and they successfully operated on the 1st of April, 2011, and they, the biopsy went off to be um checked

I found out that I had a grade 3 tumor

I then, under, underwent a, I had a 6 week course of radiotherapy, and that left me with no hair, and can’t remember what else (laugh)
And um that I went under another MRI scan 6 weeks after radiotherapy and we, that again wasn’t particularly good news, and we found out that there was still remnants of the tumor, and the future for me is very uncertain

So what, what are you looking for ?
What are you looking to do ?

Um, I, sorry

What do you want Hannah ?
What is it you’re looking for ?

Um, mainly I, um, I can’t

You just want to live, right ?

Yeah

So what are you asking for ?
What, what, what do you need ?

I um, I need people to raise money, for, uh, my treatment
I’m looking to going to America because there are things that they can offer me here on the NHS or locally (?) is very, very limited, and there’s a doctor in Houston, and he’s able to help

So you want some help in raising some money, yeah ?

Yeah, it’s completely out of our reach to raise that much money, and it’s, I’d like help to raise the money
——————————————————————
9/17/2012
Monday, 17 September 2012 07:23 | Written by Administrator

Hannah Bradley

Hannah’s amazing story, fighting and winning over her Brain tumor (Anaplastic Astrocytoma) is available on her support site

Team Hannah

There are more videos by Pete and Hannah, documenting her fight and the Burzynski Clinic
======================================

When I mentioned Ben and Laura Hymas to Bob Blaskiewicz during the Saturday Google+ Hangout, and suggested that I should compare it to the patient stories he “embellishes”, he suggested I review his patient stories instead

So what am I doing ?

I’m reviewing the patient story of Laura Hymas

However, my goal is to provide a perspective of her mood, health, treatment, and support network, so that readers can get an idea of what someone with cancer; who does not yet know that they have cancer, may be experiencing, so if they note similar experiences or symptoms in themselves or others, they will know that they most likely should seek professional medical assistance, and also be able to use it to compare to other “patient stories”

Note how I do NOT “embellish” Laura’s story by adding extemporaneous commentary like Bob Blaskiewicz
——————————————————————2005 – Laura met Ben: knew instantly wanted to start family with him []

When first met Laura 3 years ago beautiful, bright and energetic girl [2]

loyal, kind hearted and has a smile so infectious that it can light up any room [2]
——————————————————————
started planning to marry and grow family [2]
======================================
======================================MOOD
======================================
======================================1/2009 – Laura pregnant[]

k) reassured when read stories saying people did live normal lives with this sort of ­tumour []

l) huge relief []
——————————————————————12/2010

a) felt couldn’t accept there were no other options []

b) felt confident []

c) so angry but had no choice []
——————————————————————2/2011 – []

a) Being unable to care for son made feel so depressed

b) felt like life was slipping away

c) No words can describe how much this news and period of time affected us as a family
——————————————————————4/2011 – []

a) had devastating effect on her as young mum, and affected every part of lives because at moment cannot enjoy time and plan future like any other normal young family []

b) everyone was in for further shock []

c) left reeling when doctors said tumour had grown rapidly []

d) couldn’t believe it []
——————————————————————5/27/2011 – confident will get there and beat this [9]
——————————————————————6/2011

a) felt very confident, almost empowered []

b) Given situation felt had nothing to lose []

c) astounded by generosity and kindness of general public []
——————————————————————LAURAS TUMOUR [1]
——————————————————————news hit very hard and also devastated her family and friends [1]

Until something like this happens, you dont realise how much of an effect it has [1]

fun loving girl who’s taken to motherhood like a duck to water, son is so lucky to have her because she always puts him first [1]

illness crept up slowly and was affecting long before diagnosis because it was eating away at health and energy which was so frustrating for when wanted to be energetic mum doing loads of things with Jacob [1]

awful diagnosis had positive and negative effect, fact now knows what was wrong is huge relief because knew deep down something was wrong, but its awful news at same time [1]
——————————————————————6/27/2011 – Anyone who has been or is going through a life threatening illness will understand power of positivity and support network of friends and family [15]
——————————————————————faces race against time to travel to US for treatment she hopes will save her life []
——————————————————————7/8/2011 – [18]

helped stay positive and strong as a family even in difficult times [18]

worried how long it would take before could start treatment [18]

has been so strong and positive throughout journey, im so proud of her for being such an amazing fiancee and an amazing mum to Jacob – not a day goes by where she doesnt make us smile and keep our home life normal for Jacob at this important time in our little mans life…a really special person [18]
——————————————————————7/28/2011 – had agonising wait for results on Thursday
——————————————————————8/3/2011 – [21]

MIXTURE OF FEELINGS THIS MORNING [21]

never happy with just sitting around [21]

spent months researching all kinds of brain tumour treatment protocols looking for most successful, non harmful type of treatment currently available in the world and even speaking to past patients about their experiences, led us to front door of controversial Dr. Burzynski’s clinic in Houston this morning…somewhere that gives us all a bit of Hope [21]

Driving to clinic we were nervous about how today would be but as soon as we walked through the door we were met with friendly faces and felt instantly at ease [21]

left clinic feeling relaxed, like were in right place and the day had gone great, been prescribed treatment she wanted and with any luck will be having 1st dose this Friday [21]
——————————————————————8/8/2011 – [3]

bit of a difficult week this week, hadn’t been sleeping well due to MRI scan booked [40]

After such good result last time where tumour shrank so much were feeling so positive for few weeks after, as next scan gets closer start to worry about silly things, every time has bad day where feels exhausted, worry tumour suddenly started to grow again [40]

next day have really good day…. might have epileptic seizure, though has a LOT less of them now and aren’t as strong still worry means tumour growth [40]

get to few days before next scan even sillier things start to cross mind like “I’ve eaten lots of chocolate and had a few KFC’s since last scan was my diet really bad and hasthat made it grow!?!” [40]

all sorts of worries will go through mind at this point, like anyone else in this situation will understand [40]

trying to describe just other day what its like being told has malignant brain cancer [40]

(still hate those words) [40]

its impossible to describe but so awful makes you feel like you’re character in film “Saw” [40]

Like someone has put time bomb inside your head, it will grow fast and more it grows you will slowly become more disabled, doctors tell us that current available medicines can only slow it down..there are never any survivors 12-14 months (1 year – 1 year 2 months) from diagnosis is prognosis [40]

Eventually it will win, and you will lose the fight [40]

Sometimes in morning wake up and for few seconds forget have one, everything is normal, then reality hits again [40]

Every time has bad day where feels exhausted, worry tumour suddenly started to grow again [43]

fret before a scan [43]eat bad food [43]made stay up late some nights watching TV instead of resting [43]

all sorts of worries will go through mind at this point [43]

diagnosed with tumour just over year ago, describes what it’s like living with malignant brain tumour [43]

it’s so awful it makes you feel like a character in the film ‘Saw’ [43]

like someone has put time bomb inside head, it will grow fast and more it grows you will slowly become more disabled [43]

Eventually it will win and you will lose the fight [43]

feel fortunate given chance to at least try treatment [43]

About improvement, burst into tears [43]

so shocked, what an amazing start to 2012 [43]
——————————————————————2/8/2012 – [47]

big milestone of a day [47]

just wanted to wear something to cover the site where tumour is, area has biopsy scar and hair is much thinner from radiation [47]
——————————————————————2/21/2012 – had 6 weekly MRI scan tuesday – scary time as always [48]
——————————————————————3/25/2012 – taking small steps but feeling more like old self all the time [49]
——————————————————————4/5/2012 – “scan week” always stressful time [50]
——————————————————————5/19/2012 – diagnosed 17 months ago now and even on hardest days never given up hope [52]
——————————————————————6/22/2012 – [53]

Everything takes toll eventually [53]

feel fine now and have caught up on sleep, for 6 days while off treatment awaiting blood culture results was almost as if nothing was wrong, in perfect health so breath of fresh air to have no IV bag to carry around [53]

fleeting moment of “normality” for our family again [53]
——————————————————————7/4/2012 – [54]

been emotional rollercoaster, when look back over past year and a half [54]

has certainly been a life changing experience for us and all of our family [54]

extreme stress of situation is starting to wear off and starting to feel able to relax a little now and do “normal” things most families probably take for granted like planning ahead into future rather than living day to day [54]

don’t think its possible to describe personal experience like this, much like amazing feeling of becoming a parent you have to experience it first hand to really know what its like [54]
——————————————————————8/8/2012 – When look back feel like looking at someone else’s life [55]
——————————————————————8/29/2012 – [55]

its been well worth all the hard work and effort [55]

Mentally stayed so strong despite over past 12 months (1 year) having not slept full night due to infusions – calculated has had at least 2150 ninety minute infusions to date [55]

These days, life is much more hopeful and slightly less stressful [55]
——————————————————————11/27/2012 – [56]

fight this every day for almost 2 years without ever once faltering or giving up [56]

Jacob has been here to give a reason to be strong and his unconditional love has been a huge part of healing process [56]

couldn’t be happier [56]
——————————————————————1/2013 – Dr Burzynski has given me and my family the future back and I am eternally grateful [3]

whilst having radiotherapy lost all hair which fell out very quickly – in a matter of hours – too quickly to really have any time to get used to the idea [47]

(if thats possible) [47]

for woman it can be a really big part of their identity, especially if you’re just 25 years old [47]
——————————————————————
1/12/2012 – [40]

When has scan every 6 weeks to find out how treatment is going go through different emotional stages [40]

After such good result last time where tumour shrank so much were feeling so positive for few weeks after, as next scan gets closer start to worry about silly things, every time has bad day where feels exhausted [40]

next day have really good day…. might have epileptic seizure, though has a LOT less of them now and aren’t as strong still worry means tumour growth [40]

eat bad food, stay up late some nights watching TV instead of resting, dragged round country parks for walks [40]

(probably in hind sight exercise is very good right now) [40]
——————————————————————
1/13/2012

has good days and bad days [43]

Every time has bad day where feels exhausted, worry tumour suddenly started to grow again [43]

next day have really good day … then might have epileptic seizure, even though has a LOT less of them now [43]

didn’t even take the pills [10]
——————————————————————5/27/2010 – [10]
——————————————————————10/2010 – while family, from Rochester, Kent, were in Lanzarote, developed weakness in right arm [10]

At first thought might have slept awkwardly or pulled a muscle [10]

Some days it was there, some days it wasn’t [10]

Other times felt tingling in fingers [10]
——————————————————————11/2010 – [2]

started to lose feeling and co-ordination in right arm which prompted an MRI scan at hospital [2]

health slowly declined over past year, never fully recovered after having Jacob and mis-diagnosed with range of things including exhaustion [2]

breakthrough diagnosis came after another visit to GP’s [10]

had a cold couldn’t shake off and went to see if needed ­antibiotics [10]

saw different doctor and he could see from notes sometimes been at surgery every week [10]

kept list of symptoms on iPhone [10]

handed it to him and he looked ­concerned [10]

been visiting surgery with different symptom every time [10]

When he saw them together, warning bells rang [10]

Although he didn’t say he ­suspected a brain ­tumour, he sent for tests [10]
——————————————————————12/24/2010 – results arrived [2] + [10]

few days later called back for results [10]

had brain scan but also had blood tests and thought was going to get those results [10]

had found something on scan [10]

huge ­tumour [10]

doctors broke news has rare, ­inoperable brain tumour [10]

told there’s no cure and it’s growing [10]

bad news was tumour, known as an oligodendroglioma, was inoperable – deep in the brain and removing it would be too dangerous, so all doctors could do was monitor it [10]

diagnosed with rare Brain Cancer and biopsy revealed is most aggressive type of brain cancer, not only is it inoperable because of size and location but also deemed incurable using available cancer therapies in UK, which can only at best slow down growth [2]

Tests showed was low-grade, slow-growing tumour [10]

explained could have had it for 20 years [10]

reassured when read stories saying people did live normal lives with this sort of ­tumour [10]

average life expectancy poor, fewer than 1 in 100 people diagnosed live for 5 years, this cancer is common in people over 50 [2]

(approx 5,000 diagnosed annualy in UK) [2]

very rare in Laura’s age group, less than 50 cases reported every year in UK and no known cause [2]

told by doctors in UK that brain tumour was inoperable [43]

set out to find an alternative cure [43]

find clinic in Houston, Texas, run by Dr. Burzynski, that pioneers new treatment for malignant brain cancer Laura has [43]

clinic in America has pioneering treatment proven very effective against this type of cancer without harming the body [2]

clinic has been running for over 30 years and has been able to not only stabilise, but potentially cure this awful disease in some cases [2]

treatment not available via NHS [2]

most patients require anything from 2 to 4 years treatment [2]

diagnosed with type of brain cancer for which there is no cure in Britain and wasn’t expected to live more than 12 months (1 year) [37]

Since diagnosed has developed epilepsy and has multiple seizures a day [37]

right arm almost paralysed so has been unable to pick up Jacob or bathe him [37]
——————————————————————2/2011 – right arm virtually ­paralysed [10]

also developed ­epilepsy and having seizures every day [10]
——————————————————————4/2011

travel to US for treatment hopes will save her life [10]
——————————————————————6/2011

1) completed radiotherapy course

2) had to stop chemo after few days because allergic reaction

3) doctors very honest – couldn’t continue TMZ cycles because was allergic to it

4) original oncologist against decision to go to America for treatment because controversial and not yet approved by NICE, or any medical body

5) transferred to another oncologist willing to take me on in London

made fully aware early on that cancer treatment and long term prognosis has improved for most common types of cancers over the years [23]

has been no real improvement in outcomes for Brain Tumours – especially Glioma which although being one of most common cancers, especially in children, are most under funded types of cancer in research arena [23]

spoke to past patients in US and UK, some who were cured many years ago from ‘terminal’ brain cancers using “antineoplastons” at Burzynski Clinic in Houston, Texas [23]

clinic treats many types of cancer with other therapies but for antineoplastons primarily focus on brain cancer because it is one of hardest to treat [23]

Prior to visit to US sent sample of Laura’s brain tumour tissue from biopsy procedure to Pheonix, Arizona [23]

At lab number of tests carried out including gene expression tests, genetic tests used to identify which treatments would be most effective for Laura as an individual – backup plan if antineoplastons had no effect [23]

treatment supposed to be given alongside chemotherapy but 10 days into 33 day course of chemotherapy developed allergic reaction and had to stop particular drug [18]

chemotherapy isnt very effective for everyone with Brain cancer and missing out on this drug also means Laura is so much stronger physically than she would have been otherwise, that coupled with great advice from our nutritionalist Jo Gamble has meant Laura is in amazing shape and able to travel to America safely to start treatment [18]
——————————————————————7/2011 – travelled to Burzynski Clinic in Houston end of July to start Antineoplaston treatment and for Ben to be trained on administering medicine by doctors at Clinic
——————————————————————7/2011

since starting treatment in America in July, has begun to show signs of improvement [37]

started to get use of paralysed right arm and hand back [37]

has got a lot more energy and is able to go on short walks with Jacob [37]

receive gene therapy at clinic in Texas [37]

treatment involves having daily doses of drugs and scans every 6 weeks [37]
——————————————————————7/2011 – 8/2011 – 3 weeks there and came home and continuing treatment

(administered by Ben with very close direction from clinic)
——————————————————————7/25/2011 – MRI scan Monday
——————————————————————7/28/2011

had agonising wait for results on Thursday

got results “Increase in size of tumour left frontal lobe” and sent straight off to clinic, took few hours to get green light (because of time difference) and by 6:30pm got call we were waiting for from clinic FDA should give special exception without aproblem – Houston here we come [21]
——————————————————————7/29/2011 – [21]

Thanks to amazing fund raising and generosity from everyone raised enough money to start treatment now rather than 10/2011, this gives a huge head start [21]

would originally been having another cycle of chemo until 10/2011 but allergic to it so means NHS don’t have any more options available at this stage [21]

Chemo isn’t very effective for a lot of brain tumours so isn’t big loss, much better to get onto next step earlier than planned [21]

FDA law prevents clinic treating at this point unless tumour has grown since last scan [21]

(if it had shrunk from radiotherapy would’ve had to wait until end of August) [21]

in catch 22 situation, didn’t want tumour to have grown since April but also wanted to get America ASAP, UK doctors did say not to panic because even if there was growth it could just be post radiotherapy swelling, this put our minds slightly at rest [21]

decided to take additional option on top of standard treatment has come here for, option has only been available here a few months and – huge advancement in world of cancer treatment [21]

sample of tumour tissue sent over from Kings Hospital to Lab in Phoenix, Arizona [21]

Lab running number of different tests on tissue sample and also mapping DNA profile to get “molecular fingerprint” of individual tumour [21]

Everyone’s cancer is unique to them and therefore will respond best to “unique treatment plan” [21]

Lab results will be sent to clinic next week and will tell them exactly what drugs will be effective for unique cancer, and what specific genes are involved in causing cancer [21]

Gene target therapies will also be used to “switch off” genes causing cancer and “turn on” tumour suppressor genes to help stop cancer in its tracks [21]

rather than having “one size fits all” treatment be recommended treatments based on what clinic knows will be effective for individual case [21]
——————————————————————8/2/2011 – 1st appointment Tuesday where will finally meet Dr Burzynski in person [21]
——————————————————————8/2011

appointment booked at clinic in America for start of August so will be flying out at end of month to start treatment [18]

travel to clinic and began treatment [43]
——————————————————————8/3/2011 – [21]

11:30AM CONSULTATION AT CLINIC [21]

journey began 8 months ago (12/24/2010) when diagnosed, found out over following weeks how generally un-successful brain tumour treatment was in UK [21]

day consisted of consultation with Dr Acelar who will be primary consultant [21]

She interviewed in more detail about condition then went off and reviewed MRI scan images with Dr Burzynski as he would have final say over treatment plan to be prescribed [21]

After agonising wait for what seemed like 10 hours but was only 10 minutes Dr Acelar came back into room with Dr Burzynski [21]

this is a guy we’ve been researching about 6 months, has been completely curing what were previously considered to be 100% fatal brain tumours, and by curing I mean for a lot of patients tumours completely disappear [21]

wasted no time explaining exactly how treatment works, basically brain cancer is being caused by up to 600 defective genes, treatment will “switch off” cancer causing genes which will make cancer cells go into “apoptosis” [21]

Apoptosis is natural cycle where cell dies and is broken down by body, in other words tumour will start to break down and dissolve away [21]

know within 4-8 weeks if working and if not then they can add in other gene targeted therapies – based on results of some genetic testing having done at the moment [21]

had bloods and physical examination done [21]

(by another doctor) [21]

and done for the day [21]

due back at clinic once they get approval from FDA to treat – which will take 1-4 days [21]
——————————————————————8/4/2011 – [22]

just got call from clinic and now approved for treatment by FDA much quicker than thought [22]

didn’t think there would be any problems because fits criteria, having had previous Radiotherapy which is required before you can have any private treatment from Dr Burzynski [22]

waiting on appointment from doctor who’ll be fitting Hickman Line, which is IV line fitted in chest just below collar bone [22]

Having IV line fitted is more convenient that in arm long term, and allows delivery of higher doses of medicine from IV pump that will become friend for about next 12 months (year) [22]

11.am connected and switched on pump for 1st ever Antineoplaston infusion, from that moment on would have to have 90 minute infusion every 4 hours – EVERY DAY .24/7 [55]

grade four cancer diagnosis let alone NHS treatment options, alternative medical research and decisions, fundraising, flying to america for a month [55]
——————————————————————8/8/2011 – 9/2011 – doctors completely honest, said won’t know IF or how quickly will respond until on treatment for at least 8 weeks
——————————————————————8/8/2011 – on antineoplaston therapy since

medicine rich in sodium and have to infuse 2 litres daily

(dose lasts 90 minutes every 4 hours 24/7)

drink approx 5 litres of water daily

while pump running

carrying around infusion pump all day connected to Hickman line in chest

medicine pump

MRI scan at private hospital every 6 weeks

8/2011 – came home
——————————————————————08/12/2011

25-year-old Laura Hymas, of High Street, Rochester, has seen tumour shrink by more than a third in just 6 weeks after pioneering therapy in America [37]

already improving since treatment in USA [37]
——————————————————————9/2011 – came home and continued antineoplaston treatment, treatment literally takes over and consumes every day of your life [55]

Not specifically side effects because been lucky enough to have minimal short term side effects, but impact on daily life – the infusions, preparing medicine bags, blood tests, etc.. [55]
——————————————————————10/2011

hopes to have new ­treatment in US [4]

took until middle of October to slowly increase antineoplaston dose up to “maintenance dose” Dr Burzynski deems most effective for body weight

friendly, happy and kind man who is always polite and making jokes [40]

sees so many patients but makes real effort to know you as a person, who you are, where you come from, what your story is..how you got to his front door [40]

doesnt promise you anything, cannot help everyone [40]

(1st to admit that) [40]

costs are completely transparent from day one, you even get breakdown of why treatment costs what it does [40]

has many many patients who had inoperable malignant brain cancers that failed chemo and radiotherapy who are not only still alive 20 years later… are now cancer free [40]

Some patients have never had any other treatment for their brain cancer apart from Antineoplaston therapy [40]

(which is what on) [40]

family who live in Kent just 5 miles from us got in touch just before Christmas as they read about us in the local paper [40]

son had been diagnosed with brain tumour [40]

They knew radiotherapy and chemo would only be palliative and having these therapies alone at young age would shorten life let alone brain tumour problem [40]

searched and searched … Eventually like us found Dr Burzynski too [40]

sons tumour decreased in size 72.5% from 1 year just on antineoplaston treatment, then put on low dose of medicine for further 3 years [40]

tumour is still there but hasn’t grown or changed since [40]

NHS oncologist can’t understand how he’a still here [40]

was 8 years old when diagnosed, in 1998 [40]

now 21 [40]

happy healthy young man and just passed university degree, looking forward to future [40]

a lot of criticism about Dr Burzynski, people saying Antineoplastons “unproven” and Dr Burzynski is scam artist taking money from dying cancer patients, that terminally ill cancer patients should be discouraged from “False Hope” he gives people [40]

any celebrities that try to help fund raise or appeal for people to donate are bombarded on twitter and internet with messages saying they are helping someone see scam artist and quack [40]

We have been focus of some of these groups, they have been trying to discourage people from donating to us “With Laura’s best interests at heart” [40]

already tried and exhausted currently available “conventional” medicine [40]

countless websites discussing Laura, other current patients with fund raising campagins and Dr Burzynski that contain false information about us all [40]

isn’t new thing to Dr Burzynski, he’s used to it by now but for us it’s distressing [40]

They try to find holes in Laura’s scan results when she reports good news, one person even told Laura on twitter to “F*** off” then he called her a “Burzynski Troll” and justified actions by saying Laura fake patient designed to encourage more people to give money to “Burzynski scam” [40]

REAL Stories about REAL people like the one above from family who live near us are ones that give us strength to carry on [40]

one day critics might decide there’s enough evidence to show treatment works? [40]

Just because they haven’t seen scientific data doesn’t mean something doesn’t work [40]

It’s worked for many [40]

having great response [40]

Tuesday when had scan at private hospital were walking past office afterwards where radiologist would be examining new scan and comparing it to last one taken 11/29/2011 [40]

stood outside to catch attention of secretary so could arrange next scan, at that point I saw through crack in door someone had brain scans on computer screen [40]

radiologist rolled back in his chair and popped his head round the door, our hearts were pumping as we were told we could have the result straight away [40]

radiologist had huge smile on his face [40]

Its looking good, definitely smaller [40]

walked in office, and had new scans from that day on screen with Laura’s scans from 11/29/2011 below [40]

To naked eye obvious to see tumour MUCH smaller and enhancing much less [40]

(less cancerous) [40]

pointed out some things and said haven’t finished measuring but estimate AT LEAST 25% SMALLER than last scan 6 weeks ago 11/2011 [40]

said if hang around in hospital cafe for 15 minutes he’ll finish up report and can have copy [40]

sent scan CD off straight away by Fedex to America so doctors could do independent report too [40]
——————————————————————1/11/2012 – [40]

Yesterday night spoke to doctor at Burzynski Clinic, they’ve reviewed scans and concluded in their opinion tumour has decreased same amount [40]

need to keep on medicine into 2013 [40]

If one day lucky enough for cancer to completely disappear still need to keep on medicine up to 12 months (1 year) after, “maintenance program” designed to make sure kill every single cancerous cell because Glioblastoma Multiforme are very nasty and has “roots” that even an MRI wouldn’t necessarily pick up [40]

Dr. Burzynski and clinic have been under constant heavy criticism from people believing he’s a ‘quack’ that gives ‘false hope’ to terminally ill people [43]

a lot of criticism out there about Dr Burzynski, people saying Antineoplastons “unproven” and Dr Burzynski a scam artist taking money from dying cancer patients and terminally ill cancer patients should be discouraged from “False Hope” he gives people [43]

already tried and exhausted currently available “conventional” medicine.” [43]

diagnosed with tumour just over year ago [43]

Doctors tell us current available medicines can only slow it down – there are never any survivors 12 – 14 months (1 year – 1 year 2 months) from diagnosis is prognosis [43]

keep on medicine into 2013 [43]
——————————————————————2/2/2012 – [44]

treatment is working so well [44]

every 6 weeks for MRI scan [44]
——————————————————————2/9/2012 – [47]

really huge milestone [47]

Day to day been continuing with medicine [47]

attached to IV pump using hickman line in chest and has dose every 4 hours 24/7 [47]

Glioblastoma Mutliforme is most agressive cancer out there so Laura will need to keep going on treatment for at least another year to kill every single cancer cell [48]

keep treatment going [48]
——————————————————————3/25/2012 – [49]

celebrating recent scan showed 77% tumour reduction [49]

been fighting this cancer for over year now, almost approaching April [49]

This time last year told awful news that brain tumour had changed and was now much more aggressive, had turned very cancerous and future was very uncertain because it was one of worse cancers anyone could get, on top of that it was in worst location too [49]
——————————————————————4/5/2012 – [50]

6 weekly MRI scan went well again [50]

tumour now reduced to what doctors believe is small cavity there because biopsy 4/2011 [50]

small edge of cavity is still enhancing on scan [50]

(which means cancerous cells) [50]

enhancing less than last scan, so everything moving in right direction [50]

plan for now is to just keep going and continue daily doses of antineoplaston medication [50]

treatment working so well [50]
——————————————————————5/15/2012 – scan Tuesday shows what remains of tumour is now at stage where hardly enhancing at all on MRI scan, enhancement now barely visible without magnifying scan images heavily [52]

Burzynski Clinic very on the ball and didn’t want to take any chances, said had to take off antineoplaston treatment and go straight to hospital so doctor could take blood cultures from hickman line and arm, local doctor arranged for us at very short notice [53]

told by clinic that if infection in line it would have to be taken out and would have to have probably 7-10 day course of antibiotics…then there would be headache of how to get another hickman line surgically fitted because only GP supporting in england [53]

havent seen or had any contact with NHS oncologist since ealier this year, despite good progress so they probably wouldn’t be able or willing to help in this situation [53]

Worst case looking at about 3 weeks without treatment – huge worry because hasn’t missed single day of treatment since 8/2011 [53]
——————————————————————6/21/2012 – blood cultures were taken and results were clear, no infection present [53]

started back on antineoplaston treatment again and could forget all problems and what if’s [53]

While off treatment had good chance to rest and relax, something long overdue [53]

hadn’t had full nights sleep for nearly 11 months [53]

medicine is very high in sodium so wake up during doses about 5 times a night for toilet trips and drinks [53]

totally burnt out last week so suspect cold shivers and exhaustion were just where needed a break and also past year catching up emotionally [53]

been rollercoaster, on autopilot so don’t think taken 5 minutes to stop and think about whats happened to family, extreme stress of situation, fundraising and worries about raising enough money, trip to america, treatment and all the controversy it attracts [53]
——————————————————————7/4/2012 – [54]

had MRI scan last week and despite being off treatment for 6 days prior to scan [54]

(due to suspected IV line infection) [54]

NO CHANGES [54]

back on antineoplaston treatment again and still scheduled to finish treatment at end of year [54]

really lucky to catch tumour early [54]

last year only initially had 3 options which were surgery, radiation and chemo [54]

did enormous amount of research and even got MP involved with discussions with head of PCT, they confirmed all standard approaches were palliative, designed to buy time – not something we were told by oncologists, who refer to these 3 modalities as “a radical treatment approach” and give little information apart from “we’ll see what happens” [54]

they are same options that’ve been used for decades – where is the progress? [54]

Being an inoperable tumour our only options left were radiation and chemo [54]

Knowing that best radiation can do is slow down growth [54]

(in some cases) [54]

If it worked that would only be small window of time [54]

was unable to take more than few days of chemo due to allergic reaction [54]

(which in fact, looking back was actually a normal body reaction to taking a highly toxic substance) [54]

Would American treatment work or would Dr Burzynski be a crook just like all the sceptics were saying? [54]
——————————————————————8/2012 – no trace of Tumor at all [59]

always get 2nd opinion from UK radiologist who confirms just cavity left which should resolve over time [59]

last update just after MRI scan, at which time both Dr Burzynski’s radiologist and private UK radiologist both confirmed there was no trace of residual or recurrent brain tumour on MRI scans [56]
——————————————————————8/29/2012 – [55]

Scan: one year on treatment! on Wednesday [55]

Burzynski Clinic advised all they can see on MRI scans is scar tissue, cavity present from where tumour used to be [55]

UK radiologist was more cautious initially [55]

(probably because he has never seen a Glioblastoma dissapear before!?) [55]

he reported on scan and came to same conclusion as Burzynski Clinic [55]

reported today he beleives all he can see is small cavity/scar tissue too [55]

Yes
I think this is after approximately uh 4 months of treatment
4, maybe 5 months

So she’s, been on treatment 4 months, and this is when she came to see you here
This was in Ju

I’m sorry, this was in July so this must be 6 months

6 months (both)

Yeah 6 months, yes

So this was July, and this was the next one that she had

That’s right
This is November, and uh, here is now, January
That’s a substantial difference, certainly

And this is with no chemotherapy

No chemotherapy

Just the uh

Just antineoplastons only
Yes

And, and what type of tumor did she have

Only, oh one, this is glioblastoma
This is the highest malignancy tumor
Yes

So you must be pretty happy with this

Well, she did very well
I’m very glad
Yeah
Sure

So maybe next one

Especially, since it was not necessary to use any other treatment
And actually, the response was somewhat slow and we thought that perhaps it would be necessary to add additional treatment, but since she got such a nice decrease we hope we can avoid any further treatment

Yeah

But this looks great because in addition to decrease in the tumor, we see also shrinkage of uh the cavity after, the operation

You mean the cavity around

That’s right
That’s right
The cavity here
Okay
So, this also, this is also the case which means that there is certain degree of repair, from the damage that was done by the procedure
Yes
That’s correct

She had a biopsy, didn’t she

That’s right
That’s tight
Yes
Yeah
So lets hope that perhaps another 2 months or 4 months it will disappear completely
——————————————————————11/27/2012 – scan this morning, confirm again nothing present, which is amazing news we all couldnt be happier [56]
——————————————————————12/25/2012 – scheduled to finish treatment just after Christmas [52]
——————————————————————1/2013 – It’s GONE

continuing antineoplaston treatment until end of treatment course in 1/2013 and will then have regular MRI scans to ensure tumour doesn’t re-occur

just taking time to relax and see out end of Antineoplaston treatment, which all being well will finish 1/2013 after next scheduled MRI scan [56]

Thank you so much to everyone, friends, family, friends of friends and even the people who have donated and dont even know us, we are really touched by your kindness
——————————————————————
7/8/2011 – family and freinds – parents, especially Laura’s mum and dad [18]
======================================
======================================THE PEOPLE:
======================================
======================================
Alice – heard about us because her brother plays football with Laura’s nephew Joe [49]
——————————————————————
6/26/2011 – Bergin, James – London Bikeathon East London Thames Barrier through city 26 miles to South West London (Richmond Park) back to Thames Barrier 52 miles in 7 hours!
——————————————————————
Catlin (Alice friend Catlin) [49]
——————————————————————
8/3/2011 – Dan – Anglo-Texan friends [21]
——————————————————————
Danielle (Their friends) – run Cricketers Pub in Gillingham had disco for Laura last Friday; raising £425
——————————————————————
Elaine (Laura’s sister) [49]
——————————————————————
Figg, Keri – live locally and heard about Laura recently through a friend: Since then have been relentlessly selling wristbands, arranging fundraisers, and running all over Kent trying to get raffle prizes!
——————————————————————
Hills, Kirsten – Journalist from BBC
18:00! re-run at 22:30 [7]
——————————————————————
5/19/2011 – Hound, Rufus sent Twitter video to his 236,293 followers Thursday [8]

7/8/2011 – received almost £20,000 in 12 hours then more donations over following weeks as people continued to spread the word about the video [18]

5/31/2011 – friends at their schools who have donated to the fund [11]

5/31/2011 – Hymas, Theo (Brother) – [11]
——————————————————————
7/8/2011 – Les (Laura’s father in law) and his good friend [17]
——————————————————————
5/31/2011 – Jackson, Jemma – 12hr golf marathon Tuesday 7am [11]
——————————————————————
7/8/2011 – Jeffries, Terry …Local artist who gave a print of a beautiful painting of Venice, DeBeers diamond company donated a gold and diamond pen along with a box of 5 tickets to the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall! [17]
——————————————————————
Joe (Laura’s nephew) up north [49]
——————————————————————
Jones, Sandra – live locally and heard about Laura recently through a friend: Since then have been relentlessly selling wristbands, arranging fundraisers, and running all over Kent trying to get raffle prizes!
——————————————————————
7/10/2011 – Local Man Donates £5,000 ! Sunday [19]

Lee – local man donated £5,000 after reading her story on leaflet in shop near Jacobs nursery [19]

auction off their dad’s signed Manchester City football shirt
——————————————————————
STANLEY, KAYLIE (Kayley) [7]
one of Laura’s oldest school friends, sadly lost her father to Brain Cancer when they were growing up [7]

6/19/2011 – everyone who sponsored Brett and played a part in helping us raise money for the treatment fund [13]
——————————————————————
5/31/2011 – generously hosted by Roy, Sarah and Woodage, Charlie [11]

5/31/2011 – 124 holes and almost £500 in sponsorship [11]
——————————————————————
6/12/2011 – Golf Marathon! Sunday
——————————————————————
6/17/2011 – Barclays staff members: branch in Rayleigh, Essex fund raising day for Laura on Friday girls are friends of Laura and all wore grey to represent their support of “Wear Grey For Laura Day” as grey represents the colour for Brain Cancer support [12]

6/17/2011 – Barclays staff members: branch in Rayleigh, Essex fund raising day for Laura on Friday They all baked and brought cakes in and sold them to customers in exchange for a small donation [12]

6/17/2011 – Barclays staff members: branch in Rayleigh, Essex fund raising day for Laura on Friday The branch was dressed up in silver balloons and banners to help raise awareness and set the scene! [12]

7/3/2011 – Jacobs nursery held fun day on sunday to help raise money for Laura’s fund! [16]

7/3/2011 – nursery staff got together and produced amazing day BBQ, cakes, Tombola, Raffle prizes, Painting and messy play, a Magician/entertainer for the kids, bouncy castle and loads more …including throwing wet sponges
(and later full water buckets!)
at the staff for a few quid!
Mums and Dads even benefited – they got their car washed
(for a small fee) [16]

The family run nursery have been a great support to us and are arranging more events over the next month, we cant thank them enough for their support and the amazing job they’re doing looking after Jacob – he loves his days at the nursery! [16]